Cardiff or Birmingham??

Hi,

I recently got a job in the UK but they have given me the option to work in either Cardiff or Birmingham?

Im 21 and I just finished college so I plan to work for a year and then travel for a year but i do want a great year working so I was wondering, which city would be the best to live in and for the better laugh?

Cheers

I don't live in either place but having visited both I'd definitely say Cardiff. Its a bit smaller but less concrete

Have a look at wikitravel for them both (lists stuff to do and see)

http://wikitravel.org/en/Birmingham_(England)
http://wikitravel.org/en/Cardiff

Hi Playergaz

I'd have said Cardiff, it has had a lot of investment over the last 10-15 years. It is on the coast, and the countryside to the west and north of Cardiff is wonderful -remember- I am an old "fart" of 50+, so I can't help you with night-life. But I grew up 40 miles from Cardiff, in Swansea. And the beaches are the best in the world, but don't tell anyone.

But B'ham is bang in the centre of UK, so good for weekend trips, lovely pubs and old buildings, culture, good transport links. Stratford-upon-Avon is just south of B'ham. Very pretty English countryside.

Birmingham is more central for just about the whole of England. Cardiff is the capital of Wales (although only a small percentage of the locals speak Welsh - which is far more widely spoken in the North. Do you speak any Welsh??). The night life in both cities is very good, as is the shopping. A room in either will be about the same price. Birmingham is the UK's second largest city (just beating Glasgow) with just around a million people. That's about 1/8th the size of Greater London, twice the size of Manchester and Liverpool and roughly 3 times the size of Cardiff. Public transport on the rail links and buses are excellent both locally and to get you across the UK too, in both locations. Both cities have services that knock the spots off the South of England's.
If I had to choose personally between one or the other - very difficult, I'd go with Cardiff. Just my choice - not a suggestion.

[ Edit: Edited on 08-May-2009, at 10:41 by Redpaddy ]